What’s up with this feminism stuff anyway?

For my English 30 IB class, I have to read a book called A Room of One’s Own by Virginia Woolf. This book is written in the format of an essay, that is meant to be a speech as well. I had no idea before we started reading this book that the reactions would be so mixed with regards to the ideas presented in this text. Even within my class alone, there are the ardent feminists, and there are those who say that feminists are responsible for the notions that create hatred towards men in our society. So I was wondering, what do you, my readers, think about this topic? Here are some ideas to get you started.

Pros for Feminism:

Seeks gender equality

Oppose domestic violence, sexual harassment, and sexual abuse

Have advocated for equal pay for women

Suffrage for women

Reproductive rights (access to contraceptives and abortion)

Cons for Feminism

Even though it advocates gender equality, it keeps the sexes apart

Women try to do what is, genetically speaking, physically challenging, sometimes almost impossible

In trying to appease feminists, women are chosen over equally qualified men in order to prove that a team is not sexist

While trying to gain equality for women, feminism leads to increased discrimination against men

If you have any ideas, or thoughts about this topic that you would like to share, do not hesitate to comment below.

How? In practice this happens because it isn’t perfect yet. In theory however, ideal feminism does exactly the opposite.

•Women try to do what is, genetically speaking, physically challenging, sometimes almost impossible

If you are referring to manual labour, than I would love to see the data to back this up. While obviously there are significant genetic differences (namely the primary and secondary sexual characteristics) I can’t think of any career pursuit that would be impossible or unsafe to do for the sole reason the they have a vagina.

•In trying to appease feminists, women are chosen over equally qualified men in order to prove that a team is not sexist

You might have picked the wrong word. Equally qualified people shouldn’t be judged by sex at all. Were you trying to say that less qualified women would be picked in the name of equality?

•While trying to gain equality for women, feminism leads to increased discrimination against men

While this is true, the bigger problem I feel is reverse discrimination, where feminists judge and discriminate against women who take advantage of the liberties that are fought for. IE the right to have sex as often as they want the right to wear skanky cloths if they want the right to act “girly” if they want.

A the notion of hatred against men, that seems like a silly idea, and after being unable to find any real data supporting it, I would like to know how your classmates are backing up their claims.

For the first point, I agree with you. In theory, feminism is supposed to work perfectly, in much the same way that communism is supposed to work perfectly. However, because of the nature of humans, these ideas don’t transition smoothly from paper into real life. This is what keeps the sexes apart, and what leads to more conflict.

For the second point, I think that impossible was too strong a word to use. But there are endless examples to back this claim up, starting with the genetic makeup of women. They produce lesser quantities of hormones such as testosterone, which help with muscle growth. Another example is sports. Women claim that they can do exactly what men do, and take part in the same activities. However, if this was the case, why don’t women race against men in the Olympics? Why do they race against other women? Why are women subjected to sex tests to determine the testosterone levels in their bodies if they excel in their sport? It’s because even though they say that they want to be the equal of men, they want to compete against their own sex, because they know that the genetic differences are too great between the genders for them to succeed as much as they would like to.

I’ll answer your other points soon, because I’m currently typing from my iPod and I’m tired lol. But rest assured that I shall reply =].